EPG with advertising inserts

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, the invention is a system and method for simultaneously displaying advertisements with an electronic program guide (EPG). The system displays television schedule information in rows of schedule information items including the time and channel for at least a portion of the displayed television schedule information items. An advertisement is selected for display from a plurality of advertisements, and the selected advertisement is displayed between two rows of the schedule information items simultaneously with the displayed television schedule information items.

This appication claims the benefit of Provisional Application Ser. No.60/034,784 filed Dec. 19, 1996.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates to electronic program guides that incorporateadvertising messages or words.

As the number of television channels available on cable and by satelliteexpands, an onscreen electronic program guide (EPG) become moreindispensable. Such an EPG permits the user to sort the availablepresent and future programming by theme, time, and channel. As a result,the user can find a program of interest more easily.

It is costly to collect EPG data for display and to transmit such datato the consumer. Thus, there is a need to find a way to recover the costof these activities.

SUMMARY

According to the invention, advertisements are inserted in an EPG on thescreen of a display monitor between the individual television programlistings. Specifically, a memory stores EPG data and advertising data. Amicroprocessor is programmed to recover EPG data corresponding to anumber of television programs and advertising data from the memory. Themicroprocessor controls the monitor to display the recovered EPG data onthe screen in lines of television program listings, each televisionprogram listing being displayed in a separate line, and to display therecovered advertising data in a line on the screen instead of one of thetelevision program listings.

In a preferred embodiment, the EPG and advertising data are displayed ina first area of the screen and a detail window is displayed in a secondarea of the screen. One of the lines of EPG data is highlighted with acursor. A description of the television program listing highlighted bythe cursor is inserted in the second area. When the line of advertisingdata is highlighted with the cursor, a description relating to theadvertising data is inserted in the second area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of apparatus for carrying out theinvention; and

FIG. 2 is a screen format produced by the apparatus of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosures of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/475,395, filed on Jun.7, 1995, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794, May 29, 2001, andapplication Ser. No. 08/728,614, filed on Oct. 10, 1996, issued as U.S.Pat. No. 6,028,599, Feb. 22, 2000, are incorporated fully herein byreference. As illustrated in the former application, a source oftelevision signals 10 in FIG. 1 such as terrestrial antenna, or a cableis connected to a television tuner 11. The output of tuner 11 is amodulated intermediate frequency signal containing video and audiotelevision information. Tuner 11 is connected by an intermediatefrequency amplifier (IF AMP) 12 to a picture detector (PICTURE DET) 13and a sound detector (SOUND DET) 14, which produce base band video anaudio signals, repectively. The audio signal is coupled by a soundamplifier (SOUND AMP) 15 to a loudspeaker 16. The video signal iscoupled by a video amplifier not shown to one input of a switch 18.Sound detector 14 and picture detector 13 are connected to the audiovideo inputs, respectively, of a video cassette recorder (VCR) 17.(Alternatively, television signal source 10 could be directly connectedto the RF input of VCR 17, if its internal turner and demodulatingcircuitry is to be utilized.) The output of VCR 17 is connected to theouter input of switch 18. The output of switch 18 is connected to oneinput of a conventional picture-in-picture (PIP) integrated circuit chip19. The output of PIP chip 19 is connected to the video input of atelevision receiver or monitor (TV) 20 having a screen (not shwon).

An updatable data base of the schedule of program listings of all theavailable channels for a prescribed period of time, e.g a day or a week,is electronically stored in a program schedule memory 22. These programlistings typically include for each program the title, a programdescription, the day of the week, the start time of the day, the programlength, and the channel on which the program is transmitted and thusavailable for reception at source 10. In a preferred embodiment of theinvention, the period of time for which the program listings are storedis different for the guides, depending upon viewer priorities andpreferences. For example, the information needed to display the timespecific program guide (TISPG) and channel specific program guide (CSPG)may be stored for one or two days and the information needed to displaythe theme specific program guide (THSPG) may be stored for a week ormore. The data base can be updated by a continuous data link in thevertical blanking interval (VBI) of one television channel broadcast tothe television receiver in well known fashion. Alternatively, the database can be updated by unplugging memory 22 and replacing it with amemory having the updated data base. Memory 22 is connected to amicroprocessor 24 that is programmed to control the operation of thedescribed equipment. An operating program for microprocessor 24 isstored in a read only memory (ROM) 26. A lies ei input device 28,preferably in the form of a remote IR controller, is coupled tomicroprocessor 24 to provide commands from the viewer. A video processor30 is coupled to microprocessor 24. When the viewer wishes to seetelevision program listings, microprocessor 24 recalls a portion of theprogram schedule data base from memory 22 and couples it to videoprocessor 30, where the program listings are formatted for display.Preferably, the information stored in video processor 30 is a bit map ofwhat is displayed on the screen of television receiver 20. Videoprocessor 30 is connected to the other input of PIP chip 19. Preferably,viewer input device 28 controls microprocessor 24 by cursor movement onthe screen of television receiver 20. To this end, microprocessor 24 andvideo processor 30 are coupled to a cursor position register 32.(Alternatively, the viewer can select items of information displayed onthe screen by keying into viewer input device 28 code numbers assignedto these items.) Microprocessor 24 is also coupled to tuner 11 forchannel change, to VCR 17 for play/record selection and start/stop, toswitch 18 for selection for one of its inputs, and to PIP chip 19 forselection of the mode of PIP operation.

The format of the electronic program guide is shown in FIGS. 2. Theformat has a background area 40 and an overlaid PIP window 42 in theupper left-hand corner of the screen. The real time, i.e., 5:11 p.m., isdisplayed in a sub-area 42 a of PIP window 42. Background area 40includes a banner and message prompting area 43 at the top of thescreen, a program description area 44 in the upper right-hand corner ofthe screen adjacent to PIP window 42, and a program schedule area 46below areas 42 and 44. Program description area 44 includes the starttime and length (duration) of the program being described. In area 46,EPG data retrieved from memory 22 is displayed in lines, each programlisting being displayed in a separate line. The viewer can move a cursor48 vertically to highlight one of the lines of program listingsdisplayed in area 46. The highlighted background of cursor 48 and thebackground of program description area 44 are preferably the same coloror shade. The complete, moving images of a currently broadcasttelevision program in real time and the current time are displayed inPIP window 42 and the audio portion of the television program displayedin PIP window 42 is reproduced by the sound system of monitor 20.

Advertising inserts are displayed on the screen between the lines ofprogram listings in program schedule area 46 and related information orannouncements are displayed in description area 44. With reference toFIG. 1, the advertising inserts are preferably transmitted in the VBI aspart of the program schedule information and stored at the televisionreceiver in RAM, represented functional as an advertising insert memory34. Preferably the inserts are transmitted as part of the packets ofinformation about the programs, i.e. show information packages (SIPs),with which the advertising inserts are displayed. The apparatus of FIG.1 functions as described in 08/475,395, the advertising inserts beingtreated as part of the program listings displayed in area 46 and thebrief program descriptions displayed in area 44.

In practice, memory 34 and memory 22 could be physically incorporated ina single RAM.

Addresses for the advertising inserts could be stored as part of thepreestablished time lists for the programs with which the advertisinginserts are displayed. Thus, the addresses link the time lists to theadvertising inserts, and each advertising insert is only stored once inmemory 34. By linking the advertising inserts to the time lists, thedisplayed advertising insert becomes time dependent. Thus, the contentof the displayed advertisements can, to some extent, be directed to theinterests of the viewers. Advertisements of interest to housewives wouldbe displayed in the morning and advertisements of interest to childrenwould be displayed in the early evening.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, an advertising insert 50 is preferablydisplayed as a line below the listing, “NBC 4 NEWS” of the televisionprogram that the advertiser, e.g., Coca Cola, sponsors. However, it isnot necessary that there be a relationship between the position of theadvertiser and the television program, depending on the circumstances.To obtain more information about the subject of advertising insert 50,the viewer highlights the line with cursor 48; then such information isdisplayed in area 44, instead of information about a television program.For example, the announcement in area 44 could inform the viewer thatthe advertised product is on sale in articular retail establishment at aparticular price or give an more detailed product description.

What is claimed is:
 1. Apparatus for displaying advertisementscomprising: a memory for storing electronic program guide data andadvertising data; a display monitor having a screen; means for accessingthe memory to recover electronic program guide data corresponding to anumber of television programs; means for displaying the recoveredelectronic program guide data on the screen in lines of televisionprogram listings, each of the lines of television program listings beingdisplayed in a separate line; means for accessing the memory to recoverthe advertising data; and means for inserting the recovered advertisingdata in a line on the screen between lines of the television programlistings, wherein the advertising data contains information other than achannel name, channel number, and a program title.
 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1, in which the electronic program guide data is displayed in afirst area of the screen, the apparatus additionally comprising: meansfor highlighting one of the lines of electronic program guide data onthe screen with a cursor; means for displaying a detail window in asecond area of the screen simultaneously with the displayed electronicprogram guide data; and means for inserting a description of thetelevision program listing highlighted by the cursor in the second area.3. The apparatus of claim
 2. additionally comprising: means forhighlighting the line of the advertising data on the screen with acursor; and means for inserting information relating to the advertisingdata highlighted by the cursor in the second area to be displayedsimultaneously with the displayed electronic program guide data. 4.Apparatus for displaying advertisements comprising: a memory that storeselectronic program guide data and advertising data; a display monitorhaving a screen; a microprocessor that accesses the memory to recoverthe electronic program guide data corresponding to a number oftelevision programs and accesses the memory to recover the advertisingdata; and a video processor that displays the recovered electronicprogram guide data on the screen in lines of television programlistings, each of the lines of television program listings beingdisplayed in a separate line, the video processor configured to insertthe recovered advertising data in a line on the screen between lines ofthe television program listings, wherein the advertising data containsinformation other than a channel name, channel number, and a programtitle.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the electronic program guidedata is displayed in a first area of the screen, the apparatusadditionally comprising: a viewer input device that highlights one ofthe lines of television program listings with a cursor, wherein thevideo processor is configured to display a detail window in a secondarea of the screen, and wherein the video processor is configured toinsert a description corresponding to the highlighted one of the linesof television program listings in the second area of the screen to bedisplayed simultaneously with the displayed electronic program guidedata.
 6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the viewer input device isfurther configured to highlight the inserted line of advertising datawith a cursor, and wherein the video processor is further configured todisplay information relating to the highlighted line of advertising datain the second area of the screen to be displayed simultaneously with thedisplayed electronic program guide data.
 7. A method for displayingadvertisements in an electronic program guide comprising: storingelectronic program guide data and advertising data in a memory, theelectronic program guide data corresponding to a plurality of televisionprograms; retrieving the electronic program guide data from memory;displaying the electronic program guide data in a display in lines oftelevision program listings, each of the lines of television programlistings being displayed in a separate line; retrieving the advertisingdata from memory; and inserting the retrieved advertising data in a lineon the screen between lines of the television program listings, whereinthe advertising data contains information other than a channel name,channel number, and a program title.
 8. The method of claim 7 furthercomprising: highlighting one of the lines of television program listingswith a cursor; displaying a detail window in a second area of thescreen; and displaying a description corresponding the highlighted oneof the lines of television program listings in the second area of thescreen simultaneously with the displayed electronic program guide data.9. The method of claim 8 further comprising: highlighting the insertedline of advertising data with a cursor; and displaying informationrelating to the highlighted line of advertising data in the second areaof the screen simultaneously with the displayed electronic program guidedata.
 10. The method of claim 7 further comprising: transmitting theadvertising data and the electronic program guide data in the verticalblanking interval.